Carlucci Orders Pentagon Ban on Hiring Consultants

Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci, in a move related to the continuing fraud investigation, has banned the hiring of new Pentagon consultants.

Carlucci signed the order earlier this week, directing it at all of the military services as well as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his own staff and all defense agencies.

“In view of the recent attention given the employment of consultants by the Department of Defense, effective immediately and continuing through the remainder of the present Administration, new individual consultant appointments may not be made by DOD organizations,” Carlucci wrote.

He said some exceptions may be possible “to accommodate special problems or unique circumstances,” but that all such requests for exceptions would have to be sent directly to him “along with detailed justification.”

William Caldwell, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to predict the impact of a five-month ban on consultant hiring. The pace of such hiring is frequently erratic, depending upon funding and changes in priorities. Moreover, the new ban does not apply to the hiring of consultants by defense contractors.

According to budget documents, the Defense Department expected to spend $11.4 million this year hiring individual experts and consultants to assist with various studies. The ban would apply to them.

The Pentagon’s total consulting budget approaches $3.9 billion, including such services as management support studies, engineering and technical support for weapons systems and computer work.

The fraud investigation has focused on the relationship between various defense contractors and their consultants, not consultants hired by the Pentagon. But as allegations about consultant activities surfaced, some congressional leaders have begun to question the Pentagon’s hiring practices.